Implementation Date: 11/13/2014

Date of Last Revision: 5/2/2023

Next Review Due: 5/1/2025

 

Reviewed by VTH Administrative Team: 6/2019

Reviewed by VTH Board: N/A

 

Reviewed by Legal Counsel: N/A

Reviewed by Biosecurity Subcommittee: 2/2020; 5/2/2023

Subject to modification by the Biosecurity Subcommittee of the CVM Occupational Health and Safety Committee without approval.

Policy

Technetium 99 is a radioactive isotope that is used in nuclear medicine studies and is ordered through a licensed pharmaceutical company.  This isotope is handled by animal imaging technicians only.  Technetium 99 is used in both small and large animal patients for diagnostic studies.  When faculty, students, and staff are handling patients that have been injected with Technetium 99, the following safety guidelines and procedures should be followed.

Guidelines

Always wear gloves and a nuclear medicine lab coat when handling radioactive patients.  A radioactive tag will be placed on the cage, run, or stall of the patient.

Questions about nuclear medicine procedures should be directed to an imaging technician at 217 333-5330

Procedure (if applicable)

Small Animal

 

(a)    A garbage bag labeled with a radioactive sticker shall be placed on the outside of the cage or run for disposable items such as gloves, litter, paper, food waste, and disposable paper or plastic food or water bowls.

 

(b)    Gloves and a nuclear medicine lab coat shall be worn when handling radioactive patients and when cleaning the cage or run.  Dispose of gloves in the labelled radioactive garbage bag.

 

(c)    Newspaper or disposable absorbent pads shall be used in the bottom of the animal’s cage.

 

(d)    The use of cloth bedding and heating pads shall be used only when necessary.  Small personal items can be left with the patient but will not be returned to the owner due to radioactivity.

 

(e)    When taking the patient outside to urinate or defecate, stay around the outer perimeter of the fence.

 

(f)     If any medical equipment (i.e. stethoscope, thermometer) is used, it shall be set aside and surveyed with a Geiger counter and cleared by imaging personnel prior to using on another patient.

 

(g)    No venipuncture or urine collection shall be done until the patient is properly cleared.

 

(h)    The day after the nuclear scan, the patient shall be surveyed with a Geiger counter and cleared by imaging personnel.

 

 

Large Animal

 

(a)    Faculty, students, and staff shall not enter the stall unless medically necessary

 

(b)    No venipuncture or urine collection shall be done until the patient is properly cleared.

 

(c)    The day after the nuclear scan, the patient shall be surveyed with a Geiger counter and cleared by imaging personnel.

 

(d)    When the patient is released, a “radioactivity” tag shall be placed on the stall to alert the caretakers that the bedding is radioactive.

 

(e)    Caretakers who will be cleaning the radioactive stall shall wear disposable foot coverings and gloves. 

(f)     The waste will be placed in a bin marked with a radiation warning hangtag and cleared by imaging personnel the Monday after the nuclear scan was performed. Waste not cleared needs to remain until the next Monday.

Definitions (if applicable)

Cleared - Radioactivity levels have reached cold status and no additional biosecurity measures need to be taken.

Cold – A term that refers to radioactivity below or at background radiation levels. 

CPM – Counts Per Minute, a measurement of the rate of events registered by a radiation monitoring device (e.g. Geiger Counter)

Geiger counter – An instrument used for measuring ionizing radiation. It detects radiation such as alpha particles, beta particles and gamma rays.

Half-life- is the amount of time required for a quantity to fall to half its value as measured at the beginning of the time period. The term "half-life" can be used to describe any quantity which allows an exponential decay (i.e. the time required for half of the unstable, radioactive atoms in a sample to undergo radioactive decay). The half-life for I-131 is 8 days.

Hot – A term that refers to radioactivity.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) - Personal protective equipment may include items such as gloves, safety glasses and shoes, earplugs or muffs, hard hats, respirators, or coveralls, vests and full body suits.

Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH): The collective clinical services of the Large Animal Clinic, Midwest Equine, the Small Animal Clinic, and the Veterinary Medicine South Clinic.